We are based in Cape Town but would like a national footprint. How important is it to have an office in each area you have clients?

This depends very much on your business and your clients. Dial-a-Nerd for example is in the process of centralising its offices, and closing far flung satellite offices. However, as an IT provider, much of what they do can be done remotely, they offer excellent service, and clients are comfortable knowing their IT needs are taken care of, even if it’s not onsite.

A very different example is offered by Chris Heaton, CEO of Brand Inc, a Joburg-based agency that opened a Cape Town office when it realised it was losing a major client.

By 2009 Brand Inc had grown its account with the South African Rugby Union (SARU) to R1,3 million, which, while not a huge account, was very important to the company’s growth. “The problem was that they are based in Cape Town and we were in Joburg, and even though they liked us, there was a geographical concern,” says Heaton.

By 2010 Brand Inc’s billings had dropped to R350 000. “We suspected they were using a local agency. We were right. There was an agency 15 minutes away who were at SARU’s beck and call. The only we could compete was to open an office in Cape Town. It was a strategic decision, but they were a key client. Marketing genius Goodwill Moyo agreed to join our team and head up a new office in Cape Town. He won SARU back, became one of their strategic partners and turned them into a client that now bills R9 million a year. You can’t always work remotely.”

Brand Inc’s story is a perfect example of clients who feel more comfortable doing business with companies that are close, and who they can have face to face meetings with.

Evaluate how you do business now. Do your clients expect face time with you? Who are your competitors outside of Joburg, and how do they interface with your potential clients? How important is geographical location in your industry?

Be careful – opening a second or third office if the revenue in those cities does not justify the added expense could actually hinder growth more than help it. Evaluate all your options, do the numbers, and then make a decision.

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How To Grow Your Start-Up Venture When You’re Lost

I have recently started a small business. I would like for my ventures to grow, with some assistance. How do I move forward?

The starting point for any venture is some form of a plan. I am not talking about a telephone-directory thick business plan, nor a plan developed for you by someone else in order to try and raise funding, but rather a tight, concise plan that lays out your core business, your potential customers, your product or service focus and the primary actions you need to do in the short-term to get the concept off the ground.

There are many good templates for a simple strategic plan available online, such as the Business Model Canvas. You should also look at what business development programmes, if any, there are out there that may be able to offer some support.

What tools will make my small business run smoothly?

As a small business owner, it’s normal to find yourself being an accountant, a salesperson, an operations manager and a PA all at once. Here are five tools to help you wear multiple hats without feeling overwhelmed.

Surprisingly, one of the biggest challenges of owning your own business is staying on top of administrative tasks in addition to getting your actual core work completed.

It’s a reality that these admin tasks – from invoicing customers to collaborating on a document – are typically done by the business owners themselves, because there’s not always budget available for any support staff.

Here are five tools that can help you manage your business more seamlessly, leaving you free to chase your entrepreneurial dream.

1. Online invoicing software

While creating invoices manually may work in the beginning, this task can quickly become time consuming and hard to control as your business grows.

Manual invoicing also means that things can slip through the net, so you forget to chase outstanding invoices that can in turn impact your cash flow.

A cloud invoicing tool like Freshbooks lets you create invoices online and email them to clients from within the interface.

Besides an easy dashboard showing you how much you’re owed at any point in time, Freshbooks also lets you print reports to use for accounting purposes.

Best of all, your clients can login to their own portal and view invoices, timesheets and more.

2. Cloud file sharing software

Whether you’re on your own or working in a team of 20 people, at some point you’ll need to share documents with another party like a team member or supplier.

Rather than emailing large files back and forth that can quickly clog up your mailbox, cloud file sharing tools like Google Drive and Dropbox are an elegant solution.

These tools allow you to upload and store data (presentations, photos and more) on your cloud-based drive, and then share them easily with anyone you wish.

The best part? The basic versions of both of these tools are free, so it’s as easy as creating an account and you’re off.

3. Asana – project management

A large factor in a project’s success is how efficiently it’s managed internally, because this impacts whether you stick to deadline and how much the project costs in the end.

If you’re sick of sifting through emails relating to a particular project, or can’t keep track of who’s doing what, an online collaboration tool like Asana can help.

With Asana, you can create and assign tasks within a project to team members, and start group conversations that all members can see.

In essence, team members now know exactly what is due when, who’s working on what and whether there are any snags. This keeps work streamlined – and removes the dependence on email as a workflow management tool.

4. Shared calendars

If you don’t need the full monty in terms of project management, a simple shared calendar can go a long way to keeping employees on the same page.

Using a collaborative cloud system such as Google Calendar that’s shared with everyone on your team means people can quickly find meeting times and holiday weeks that suit everyone else.

Google Calendar can also be synced across multiple devices like your phone and tablet, so you can always stay in touch with scheduling.

5. Other Google Products

Several products within the Google fold have already been mentioned above, but there are others that can help you run your small business more efficiently. If you run a business online, Google Analytics is Google’s free analytics software that tells you who came to your site from where, and what their interactions on the site were.

Finally, if you have a business with one or more physical locations, Google My Business allows you to get your business details (address, pictures, videos, opening hours) onto Google’s search results for free.

Expand or die?

Should I expand abroad? I am currently considering expanding my kids’ clothing business abroad, with a view to broadening my customer base. Can you possibly offer me some advice on how to go about determining whether this would be a feasible idea, and if there is profit to be made in foreign countries?

Expanding overseas is seen as a natural step in the growth of many businesses, but there are a number of things to take into account. Only after you feel you have covered all of these areas properly should you press ahead.

Domestic position

First take stock of your position in your home market. If you don’t yet command enough of a market share, you may want to reconsider whether now actually is the time to go abroad is.

Remember you are going somewhere where the regulations, economic outlook and customer behaviour can be totally different, so it is even more of a risk than your home market.

I often see entrepreneurs who have less than 5% of their home market trying to go abroad, which simply doesn’t make sense to me. To put it another way – if you haven’t yet cracked Cape Town, don’t go after California!

Understand the market

Every little detail about the trading environment you are going into needs to be understood. There are some huge, multinational firms that have ventured out of their country only to get a nasty surprise. Think about the manufacturing regulations, which is particularly important for your type of business.

Also look at things like HR laws and tax requirements, and crucially, the relationship between currency and inflation rates. I once had a business in Turkey and my profits were being seriously reduced because of the due to unpredictable inflation and currency. I would say there needs to be around 6-12 months of solid research before you make that move abroad.

A more robust infrastructure

Lawyers, accountants, even translators – these will all be critical figures in ensuring your business copes within a new market. They make up the infrastructure of a business, and the stronger the infrastructure, the better you will be.

These people all need to be experts, and I don’t just mean being able to speak the language! They should know all about the business environment in that country, as well as general customer behaviour.

What types of garments are most popular? What times of the year are best from a clothing point of view? They will essentially be your guides who help you come to the correct strategic decisions.

Partnerships

I would strongly recommend finding an international partner. Don’t try and be a hero and go it alone. Working in conjunction with somebody who knows the industry and country will leave you less vulnerable.

You may have to share some equity with them, which a lot of entrepreneurs don’t like doing – but consider this. Would you rather own 60% of a business that has real value and growth prospects, or 100% of a failing business?

Remember the partner will also be able to introduce you to key contacts, which can increase your pipeline.